- Overgrinding the plant material when making butter or oil.
When I’m looking around the internet for infusion recipes the number one issue I see is the recommendation of finely ground cannabis. The problem that arises when you use overly ground plant matter is that you get a green herbal product with no benefits from the finer grind. The trichomes ON the plant are not inside the plant themselves so the grind is unnecessary and increases the bitter and grassy flavor of your finished product.
The best solution is cutting or tearing your cannabis into pieces before your decarboxylation process and then not crumbling it any further before you start your infusion process. This allows you to let the herby green flavor stay behind in the cannabis while still getting the infusion results you want and keeping everything from getting too green.
- Cooking your cannabis at too high of a temperature.
Generally, lower temperatures are better. THC is completely degraded at a temperature of 392°F however it starts to break down long before that. One tip would be to add the infusion at the very end of the cooking process, for example: roast your vegetables then toss in butter or oils after the cooking process. Another tip is choosing an oven baked recipe that cooks at a temperature of around 350°F or lower and using an oven thermometer to correctly monitor heat.
- Limiting your cannabis cooking to sweet treats.
When you mention cannabis edibles, most people immediately think of brownies, cookies or gummies. While all of those are simple and great things to make, there’s a whole world of opportunities outside of sweets. The herbal flavor profiles of cannabis lend themselves more naturally with anything else you would normally season with herbs like thyme, rosemary and sage. Think about chili, roasted broccoli or curries… delicious!
- Using too much.
While using too much may not kill you, it definitely will ruin the experience. When making your own oils and infusions, test out your dosing and then label that batch with your ideal dose since every batch will be different.
Try 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon and add it to food or drink. Wait an hour and see how you feel. This will help you determine your single dose. Once you have a good grasp on your ideal dose, it opens up your cannabis culinary adventures entirely! From there you have a good idea of how much you need based on how many servings if cooking something larger- like a cake, a pizza, or a pitcher. Or you could just use that as a guideline for infusing an individual dish- a plate of pasta, a cup of coffee, or a piece of toast.
- Spending too much on flower for cannabis edibles
The general rule of thumb is a 1:1 ratio- 1 cup of oil to 1 cup of decarbed cannabis (about 7-10 grams). The lipids in the oil can only bind to so many cannabinoids so adding too much cannabis won’t make it any stronger, it’s mostly just wasteful.
